Contact tracers are having a tough time getting people to tell them who they may have infected. Matt Doyle has the story.
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A study of the Cancer Consortium Registry reveals patients with cancer who get COVID can be eight times more likely to die than the average person who contracts the disease. Matt Doyle has more.
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The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry receives the state’s first reported SARS-CoV-2 positive case in a dog. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
Cut 3 (30) “…I’m Kevin Barnhart”
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Assistant Health Secretary Dr. Alex Billioux says the state is having some difficulties getting results from the COVID contract tracing program.
He says first off the recent explosion in cases is making it tough to get to people in a timely manner. And…
Another big issue they’ve had is that when they can get in contact with a confirmed COVID-positive person, most of them are not telling contract tracers who they may have infected.
Billioux says while face masks are an effective deterrent, they aren’t perfect and people’s usage of facemasks can be sloppy.
Despite these difficulties, Billioux says the program is still a success and providing useful information for health officials.
To help their contact tracing efforts Billioux says the state is planning on rolling out a contact tracing app for voluntary use.
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Governor John Bel Edwards says the state is looking into further actions to be taken regarding Firehouse BBQ in Denham Springs. The Livingston Parish restaurant has been in operation despite having its food permit revoked for blatant defiance of spread mitigation efforts including a lack of mask-wearing for customers and employees as well as social distancing.
Cut 7 (08) “…is just unacceptable..”
Edwards encourages all business owners to understand that the immunity from civil liability for contracting coronavirus at private-sector establishments is not available to those not following CDC guidelines.
Cut 8 (07) “…a reckless manner.”
Governor Edwards says it is too soon to try to speculate as to what in-stadium attendance for LSU football will look like for the upcoming season adding that there is no set schedule attendance info will be available to fans.
Cut 9 (11) “…you that today.”
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An LSU Health New Orleans oncologist helps author a study showing 13 to 16 percent of cancer patients with a confirmed case of COVID-19 will die within 30 days of diagnosis.
An Ochsner study of Jefferson and Orleans Parish estimated a 1.63 percent average infection mortality rate. LSU Health Clinical Medicine Professor Suki Subbiah (Sue-Bye-uh) says cancer patients are far more vulnerable.
Adjusting for male sex, former smoker status, age, and comorbidities further increased the death rate.
Subbiah says this data makes it clear cancer patients and cancer doctors should take extra caution when assessing whether a patient needs to come in for treatment.
Subbiah suggests cancer doctors familiarize themselves with this data.
The data was drawn and studied from the Cancer Consortium Registry, a data center created in March to study cancer patients with COVID-19.
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The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry receives the state’s first reported case of a dog testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 in humans. Ag Commissioner Mike Strain says the dog, like most animals that test positive for the virus, was not sick.
Cut 13 (09) “…it was tested .”
Animals can show symptoms though as some suffer from mild respiratory or gastrointestinal issues. Strain says the virus usually resolves quicker in dogs than with humans.
But Strain recommends that if an animal does test positive for the virus that it is quarantined with the owner.
Early in the pandemic, it was believed that pets could not contract the virus, but the CDC has not learned animals can be infected. Strain says the virus is nowhere near as widespread in animals compared to humans.
According to HIPPA rules, the state cannot release any information that would identify the pet owner, including the breed or the animal’s location.